For the first time in its 90-year history, Springfield's oldest cultural institution has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The Arlington, Virginia-based alliance made the announcement Monday.

Among 33,000 U.S. museums, fewer than 3 percent are certified by their peers for using the profession's best practices.

As part of that process, in June 2016 the museum hosted a two-day site visit from Sara Devine, a manager of audience engagement with the Brooklyn Museum, and Laura Roberts, a Massachusetts-based museum consultant. Their job was to conduct an assessment, essentially giving advice.

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Increasing Springfield Art Museum attendance has been a goal for many years. In this Oct. 24, 2017 photo, folks visit in the renovated museum lobby following an event devoted to the 2017 Community Summit Release.(Photo: News-Leader file photo)

That advice came in the form of a final report written by Devine and Roberts that began with a blunt, but encouraging message.

"The Springfield Art Museum," they wrote, "is viewed as an important cultural asset for the city and the region. There is a great deal of pride that the city has a good museum, even if that pride does not always motivate visitation. This was amply demonstrated by the collective sorrow following the theft of valuable Warhol prints in the spring of 2016. It is also demonstrated by the city's ongoing generous financial support."

Devine and Roberts said the art museum "provides high quality public service" and made a number of suggestions as the museum tries to broaden its visitor base beyond the typical U.S. museum visitor: better-educated adults and children attending programs like pottery classes.

Their report said the museum should:

Put the audience "at the center of the frame"

Adopt "a philosophy and posture of welcome and inclusion"

Employ a team approach to bring the management and art-expert portions of museum staff together with education, marketing and exterior relations staff "from the outset" when planning new projects

Assess the museum's success "on the impact" of its efforts "rather than the scope and quality of the effort itself."

After going through the site visit and, later, an internal self-study, the museum alliance sent a second round of experts to Springfield, Nelson said.

"(Security) was part of the review," Nelson told the News-Leader, "one of the concerns they had, and so that was one thing the peer reviewers were instructed by (the American Alliance of Museums) to specifically address and look at."

First, the museum chose to focus on service inside Springfield city limits rather than branding itself as a regional museum.

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The entrance to Springfield Art Museum — added in 2008 as part of a renovation and expansion — is shown in a photograph two days after the April 7, 2016 theft of seven Andy Warhol prints.(Photo: News-Leader file photo)

It also began courting families traditionally underserved by arts institutions — in Springfield, they're mainly clustered on the north side of town, Nelson said — and young professionals aged 18 to 40.

Nelson said that the most recent survey data shows 56 percents of adults visiting the museum are now 40 or younger. Earlier data showed that age group made up about 46 percent of adult visitors.

Working with underserved families is a more long-range goal, he said. ZIP code data show that 36 percent of attendees come from north Springfield; 54 percent from south Springfield.

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Nelson said 19,000 people attended the show during its three-month run.

Also recently, the museum renovated its lobby to remove an awkward staff desk that included a security station and a large cash register that undermined the museum's message that it's free and open to anyone, Nelson said.

Next month, the museum rolls out an exhibit on Rose O'Neill, the American artist, illustrator and writer who invented the Kewpie doll and lived part of her life in the Springfield-Branson area, along with New York and the Isle of Capri.

Many of the artworks in the O'Neill exhibit are on loan from institutions and private collectors outside Missouri.

The museum recently began working with BNIM, an architecture firm in Kansas City with a track record of working with notable museums such as the Nelson-Atkins.

The Corridor Gallery at Springfield Art Museum with its permanent art work, "Tilted Sky," was added as part of a 2008 expansion to the museum that included a new entrance.(Photo: Courtesy Springfield Art Museum)

It is working on concepts to improve Springfield Art Museum facilities for the long term, including its grounds. Nelson said that the museum is too disconnected from its site at Phelps Grove Park.

"If you see the aerial view on Google Earth," he said, "you see it's just this wonderful opportunity to create an amenity for Springfield, a wonderful space for people to enjoy the outdoors and enjoy art."

They expect to present possible concepts later this year, Nelson said.